Local Athlete Heading to United States Air Force Academy

Off the field Erik Schuh is a quiet, unassuming young man.  On the field, he is a force to be reckoned with.  Which field?  Take your pick.  From his earliest days as a Severna Park athlete, first with the Green Hornets and later with Severna Park High School, Schuh has excelled at both soccer and lacrosse. 

 Whether he is juggling the ball through defenders or charging for the goal, he is known as a player that keeps his opponents on their toes.  But for Schuh soccer and lacrosse are more than a game.  They have given him a skill he will carry with him the rest of his life.

 “Teamwork,” Schuh said, “Being part of a team has taught me so much.  As a part of the team and then this year as captain helping to lead the team, I learned lessons I couldn’t have learned anywhere else.”

 Teamwork is a skill that will come in handy over Schuh’s next four years as a recruited athlete at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.  Head Coach Doug Hill has recruited Schuh as a target forward with the hopes that his six foot four inch 190 pound frame combined with his skills on the field will draw the defenders creating more shooting opportunities for the midfield.

 Playing Division I soccer while suffering through the first year at a military academy is a task that might frighten some students away but Schuh learned exactly how far he can push himself two years ago when he faced a potentially devastating injury in the middle of his sophomore lacrosse season.

 During the State Cup Tournament for his U17 United Severna Park club soccer team, Schuh’s leg was badly broken.  Over the next several months, Schuh worked towards recovery, finally receiving the all clear to play the day before soccer tryouts during his junior year. 

 “He made the soccer team and the lacrosse team that year but he was still in recovery,” Schuh’s dad, Ron said, “He started off the lacrosse season in the bottom line and worked his way up to the point that he actually got playing time in the State Championship game.”

 That year the Severna Park Falcons had their first ever undefeated season and won the State Championship game. 

 Maybe it was through pushing himself to improve throughout that season, maybe it was the added training he faced over the summer between his Junior and Senior years or maybe it was the confidence Coach Dunshee had placed in him by naming him as one of the team captains, but when Schuh came back to soccer tryouts he was a man on a mission.

 One of the most dreaded elements to tryouts for potential players is the beep test.  During the beep test players run back and forth over a twenty meter distance paced by an audio track. 

Throughout the test the beeps become more and more frequent until players are sprinting and turning on a dime.  As the test progresses more and more players drop out leaving the most fit players battling it out to take top position. 

 Though Severna Park players come into the season exceptionally fit Schuh eventually found himself running the test all alone.  At that point, he could have stopped.  He could have rested on the fact that he was the last one standing. 

Instead, he kept going and going and going, finally finishing at an unprecedented 14.7 on the scale.  His performance was so impressive that it was used as part of the highlight reel at the end of the season banquet where Schuh was named Most Valuable Offensive Player. 

 After a season in which he scored twelve goals and made eight assists, tying Arundel’s Mike Kovak for most goals in the county, Schuh was named MACS-All State, Washington Post’s All Metro, The Capital Gazette’s All County and the Baltimore Sun’s All Met.

 But Schuh brings more to the table than his athletic prowess.  Since middle school Schuh has always been on the honor roll.  He was named Top Scholar Athlete his junior year and will graduate with a 3.9 GPA. 

 His parents are proud of Erik’s success on the field but they are most proud of his work in the classroom. 

 “We never pursued an athletic scholarship for Erik,”  Ron Schuh said, “We made it clear to him his whole life that sports are great but it is the academics that will lead you into a good future.  It is the academics that will get him into a decent profession.”

 Erik has obviously taken this to heart.  Having received appointments at the, West Point and the USAFA and four year ROTC scholarships to Penn State, George Washington University and and the University of Maryland, Erik has proven himself both on and off the field.